Collieries in Catcliffe, Orgreave & Treeton
The area around the villages of Catcliffe, Orgreave & Treeton has been mined since before records began. Orgreave means the pit from which ore is dug although this is likely to have been iron ore. However iron ore deposits and coal deposits are often in close proximity in South Yorkshire and at some time people must have realised they could burn the coal for heat instead of scraping it.
High Hazels Colliery, Catcliffe
High Hazels Colliery was to the west of Catcliffe. There was a pit and coke ovens but the pit is shown as disused by the 1970s. High Hazels is the name of one of the coal seams that run underneath Rotherham.
Orgreave Colliery
"Orgreave Colliery was situated within the parish of Orgreave, from which it takes its name. It is with the Borough of Rotherham but only about 5 miles south-east of Sheffield."
"Coal mining in the parish was started by the Sorby family who opened Dore House Colliery in 1820. The first shaft of Orgreave Colliery was sunk in 1851 and the colliery interests were bought by the nearby Fence Colliery Company in 1870. In 1875 the Fence Colliery Company was renamed Rother Vale Collieries Limited and owned not only Orgreave and Fence but also Treeton colliery."
A new shaft was sunk to the Silkstone Seam in 1889-90. There was an underground connection with Treeton Colliery and there were railway connections with the Great Central and Midland railways. In 1918 Rothervale Collieries constructed a coking plant at Orgreave in an effort to secure the market for their coal. Later that year the colliery became part of the United Steel Companies.
"After World War One Orgreave was acquired by the United Steel Companies who used the coal obtained to supply the new Orgreave Coking and By Products plant. Metallurgical Coke was supplied from here to United Steel's large blast furnace plant at Scunthorpe."
"At nationalization in 1948 the mining and coking operations were split, the coal processing and chemicals interests stayed with United Steel Companies under their subsidiary, the United Coke & Chemicals Company. The collieries at Orgreave and Treeton were linked underground and as well as the coking plant the coal from by these collieries was fed to the washery at Orgreave Coal Preparation Plant. The Orgreave Coking Ovens closed in 1990."
"In 1995, British Coal Opencast gained permission to restore the tip, which reputedly contained over 12 million tonnes of spoil, and make the land fit for rebuilding. This work included the recovery of coal, from the tip and sub-surface, by opencasting. On 30th November 2005, the last coal was removed from the Orgreave site. The site has been renamed 'Waverley' and will eventually contain housing and light engineering/high tec industries."
Quotes are from Roger Email roger-milnesatfsmail.net (remember to change at to @).
An alternative source reckons that coal mining at Orgreave began in 18th Century Rotherham, Dore House Colliery being sunk in 1795. This pit was later reopened by Richard Sorby of Rotherwood Hall, who sank the Orgreave Colliery in 1851. Perhaps the original Dore House closed before reopening in 1820./p>
Orgreave Colliery closed in 1981. The coke and chemical plant continued, using coal from Treeton Colliery which was transported through a tunnel under Treeton village to a coal preparation plant next to the coking plant. The coking plant gained national prominence during the Miners' Strike of 1984 when mass picketing by the NUM, in an attempt to block the transport of coke to Scunthorpe, led to numerous clashes between the pickets and police. Both Treeton Colliery and the coke and chemical plant closed in 1990.
Treeton Colliery
For more information please visit the website Treeton Web - The Colliery.
